Zero hour contracts are history

It took a year and a half, 56,500 signatures and a whole lot of campaigning, but we did it; we’ve put an end to zero hour contracts.

Today’s victory is a win for all those Kiwi workers required to be available for work but who have no work guaranteed.

National promised to get rid of zero hour contracts. It didn’t - it attempted to entrench them in law by making new rules for how to use them.

Talk about a red rag.

But together we've worked tirelessly to end those exploitative contracts. The campaign has involved tens of thousands of New Zealanders, signing petitions, writing letters and emails to the Minister, and industrial action by union members. Alongside that, there's been a lot of negotiating by our Parliamentary team.

Interestingly it wasn’t only Labour and the unions raising concerns – criticism even came from the business sector with Michael Barnett from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce saying the Government’s proposal ignored work-life balance, the needs of the family and protection for the most vulnerable.

United Future and the Maori Party were also convinced by our argument. The Government had no alternative but to back down. Today it has agreed to the changes we’ve demanded.

Those changes mean:

Employers can no longer demand that you be available all the time for work without providing guaranteed hours in your agreement.

The employer must have a good reason for requiring you to be available for work and reasonable compensation must be paid.

Employers will not be able to cancel shifts at the last minute without providing reasonable compensation. The notice period for cancellation of shifts must be reasonable and included in the employment agreement.

It is now much clearer in the law that having agreed hours in your employment agreement is expected.

Thanks for the role you've played in making sure that from today, zero hour contracts are history.

Now we must look forward to our next fight. I'm chomping at the bit for it. Are you too? Say you're up for our next campaign by clicking here.

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Showing 8 reactions

Tui Mear followed this page
2016-03-16 21:27:47 +1300

Carole pinfold followed this page
2016-03-09 20:35:03 +1300

Iain Lees-Galloway commented
2016-03-09 09:54:54 +1300

Hi Bronwyn,

There is no minimum number of hours that an employer must guarrantee. There is however a proportionality test so that the number of hours an employee is required to be available must not be disproportionate to the number of guaranteed hours. Both the Minister and I made it clear in our speeches last night that our intention is that people will predominantly have guaranteed hours with some extra on call hours. The things we say in Parliament matter when interpreting the law so it was important we got that on record.

Good reasons for being on call do not include things that are entirely predictable like changes in demand for fast food. Even if they call it unpredictable is isn’t when you can easily demonstrate a pattern.

“Reasonable” is a term found throughout employment law and is well understoond by unions and courts. If the worst comes to the worst what is reasonable can be sorted out at mediation but being a union member would prevent any problems here.

The legislation now says that any agreed hours should include start and finish times, hours of work and days of work. But it does not require those to be included. This is one area where both Labour and the CTU would have liked to go further. We’ve secured an improvement, though, and that’s good for workers.

Iain.

andrea williams followed this page
2016-03-08 21:42:05 +1300

Bronwyn Drysdale commented
2016-03-08 20:09:17 +1300

Employers can no longer demand that you be available all the time for work without providing guarantees hours in your agreement. Is there a minimum of work hours agreed to and guaranteed ?i.e minimum of 24 hours per week on minimum wage with an extra 16 hours of time available to work for which you are paid at a flat fee of $50 per 8 hour period of availability. I show examples to show there is much to be discussed, until we get more certainty around these variables this cannot be made out to be a win for Labour. otherwise it is just a hollow PR exercise

• The employer must have a good reason for requiring you to be available for work and reasonable compensation must be paid. So what is a good reason? is for instance “Sudden and unpredictable arrival of increased custom in hospitality work” like in the fast food business? a reasonable situation to expect people to make themselves available for?

• Employers will not be able to cancel shifts at the last minute without providing reasonable compensation. The notice period for cancellation of shifts must be reasonable and included in the employment agreement. What is reasonable compensation? Half an agreed availability allowance, or the full amount? The time from when you said you were available until when you were rung to say don’t bother turning up after all, there’s no work today?

• It is now much clearer in the law that having agreed hours in your employment agreement is expected. How much clearer? What if any are the guaranteed minimum number of hours an employer must offer? Is it enough to pay an average rental for a family of four? We cannot just relate these contracts to young peoples work the ramifications of this legislation will affect everyone eventually.

Nirbhai Singh followed this page
2016-03-08 15:34:31 +1300

Hera Pierce commented
2016-03-08 14:32:05 +1300

The late Dr Ranginui Walker will be smiling from heaver. One for the people.

Hera Pierce commented
2016-03-08 14:32:02 +1300

The late Dr Ranginui Walker will be smiling from heaver. One for the people.